Empty
by Stelin
Summary: Ayame, a friend of Ed and Al, made the same mistake when trying to bring her brother, Hikaru, back. She lost both of her arms. But, hearing the story of how Ed became a state alchemist, inspiration struck. She was going to get her arms back and Hikaru. R
1. Chapter 1

**Empty**

_"Ayame? Hikaru? What are you doing up so early?" My father had asked me. He had bright blonde hair like I did. His eyes were green, Hikaru had the same eyes. _

_I was the freak with red eyes. _

_"Hikaru was having nightmares again, papa." Hikaru is my younger brother. Only 3 years old, 5 years younger than me. He had black hair like momma and green eyes like papa._

_Papa says Hikaru won't live much longer. He says, Hikaru is very ill. That's why momma has left. _

_She couldn't bear to see her beloved son die. But what do I know? I'm just a child after all._

_"Oh. Come here, my child." Father beckons for Hikaru to come into his open arms. I turn away from the sight. I don't like to see them in pain. I can't understand why my chest hurts but I help out the best way I can. I carry in vegtables from the garden across the street. Even if papa hurts me for it. I try to understand why he hurts me, I'm helping. But what do I know? I'm just a child after all._

_At least that's what papa tells me. _

_"P-Papa?" I ask._

_"What?" I can feel his cold stare but that's more the reason not to look up._

_"I-Is there anything I can do?" _

_"Nothing, you fool. Go back to be-"_

_COUGH...COUGH..._

_Papa let go of the coughing toddler. He grabs his jacket in panic and throws it on. He craddles Hikaru in his arms and pushes past me. I fall down and hit my face on the ground but he doesn't look back as he opens the front door and slams it shut._

_"Hikaru...I hope you're all right." _

_There's a knock on the door. _

_I carefully stand up and walk to the door. I open it and I see my neighbors son. His name is Alphonse Elric. He is my age. I like him alot. He's very nice._

_Al has some books in his hands. I smile and let him in. "Hey, Al-kun."_

_"Hi, Me-chan." That's the nickname he had given me. I like it almost as much as I like him._

_"Is this a bad time?" He asks as I shut the door behind him. _

_"No, it's alright. Papa left with Hikaru already."_

_"The doctors?" _

_"Yeah. He's coughing really bad again." I say, my sad tone giving away the fake smile plastered on my face. I change the subject, "Those are the alchemy books right?"_

_"Of course. If you're going to bring Hikaru back when he passes...you'll need these." Al-kun's mother passed away so they were going to bring her back with alchemy._

_"Ed-kun won't be mad?" Edward Elric, Al-kun's eldest brother, only a year older._

_"No, I wouldn't think so. He's looking at some other book right now." Al gave me a reasurring smile._

_After a couple hours, I hear papa coming in through the door. He slams the door and stomps down the hallway. I panic and gather all the books as Al crawls out the window. I was going to hand them to him but he was gone. _

_My door flys open and slams against the wall. "Ayame! What are those!" He screams._

_I look around. "Where's Hikaru!" I ask. _

_He growls and stomps over to me. Papa takes the book from my hands. I jump up to get it back. But when I started to reach for it, he hits me down with the back of this hand. _

_I grunt in pain and prop myself on my elbow. "Papa.." He's flipping through the pages roughly. _

_"Where'd you get these? You claim to help but all you do is use up our money on these books! Now your brother is dead! How does that make you feel, you fool?"_

_I stare blankly at the floor. I didn't notice the tears until they fell to the spot I was staring at. I looked up. "Hikaru..is.."_

_"Dead." He finished._

_"But, it...it isn't my fault. You, you're the one wasting money on alcohol!" I screamed, more tears flow down my cheeks. I closed my eyes, ready and expecting for the hit._

_But it never came. _

I flinched at the memory. I ended up trying to bring Hikaru back. A human transmutation circle. That's what I used.

I got nothing out of it but no arms. Both...ripped off by these strange black hands. I saw inside the gate. The...truth.

That was years ago. I'm 13 now. A mechanic in the town over gave me automail arms. I haven't seen Al-kun and Ed-kun since the night before I transmuted Hikaru.

Edward is a state alchemist now. I felt the inspiration run through me. If he can step up, so can I.

I took the exam.

I eagerly await my results.


	2. Chapter 2

Time passed and Ayame sat crosslegged on the edge of a water fountain in a local park. She scanned the area through her gold tinted glasses. Children were happily running around without their gardians, not even knowing about the dangers in this world. They could get kidnapped while there mothers were chatting away without a worry for their childs safety at the moment.

"Did ya hear? There's another state alchemist. Younger than the Fullmetal Alchemist! And it's a girl!" A young pre-teen said as he passed by Ayame. The younger one was at least eleven and was accompanied by a much older blonde man.

"A girl?" The older man tsked. "Women should not be in the military. Such weak creatures." The man practiclly spat out his disgust.

Ayame clenched her fist. "Weak?"

The men stopped and turned around to face her. Ayame was standing in front of the fountain now.

"Women are damn righ-woah!" She was knocked into be a child and fell backwards into the fountain. The younger one moved foward to help but the older man grabbed his shoulder. "Just look at her. Perfect example of pathetic."

Ayame spat out water as she sat up. "Bastard, don't look down on me! I'm gonna be the new state alchemist!"

"Ah.." The younger teen breathed out and helped her up. "It's nice to meet you! I've never met a state alchemist before! My name is Elijah! You can call me Eli, though!"

"O-..kay, Eli. My name is Ayame."

"Oooo~! Are you foreign?" His brown eyes sparkled and his black hair ruffled up in excitement.

"Uh, no." Ayame scratched the back of her head, laughing nervously. She was flattered, really. The blonde haired pre-teen had no idea that alchemists were this greatly appreciated. Let alone, a STATE alchemist.

"Well, I'm not officially a state alchemist anyhow."

"You're...not?" Elijah asked, some-what disapointed.

Speaking of which, she had to report to Mustang's office right about now. Now realising this, Ayame stumbled backwards and ran away, leaving Elijah mildly confused.

**Skip**

Ayame was running on the sidewalk that followed to the HQ. Her breathing was fast. Her legs were moving at an incredible speed that it almost seemed un-human.

"AAAAAAYAAAAAAMEEEEEEE!" A loud growl came from behind her and suddenly she was tackled to the ground.

"Ow!" She jolted up and stared at the angry person on top of her. His blonde hair was tied into a single braid and his golden eyes bored into eyes widened.

"Ed-kun.." She whispered.

"You idiot! What were you thinking, signing up for the military! Are you crazy!" Edward Elric ranted out. While Ayame stayed still, stunned.

Suddenly a metal suit of armor apeared behind them, trying to pull Edward off of Ayame. "Brother! Stop it, you're scaring her!"

"Brother..?" Ayame muttered under her breath. Her pupils shrank. _No way.._"Al...kun?"

Ed caught his breath. "Crap." _Not good.._Ed thought.

Ayame jumped to her feet, side-kicked Ed so he would fall out of Al's grasp and glomped Al. "AL-KUN! I MISSED YOU SO MUCH! I WAS HOPING TO SEE YOU HERE IN CENTRAL! I'M SO GLAD TO SEE YOU!"

"Uh...nice to see you too, Me-chan." Alphonse laughed, trying to pry Ayame off of his body so he could help his brother.

"Why are you wearing this silly armor? Take it off! I haven't seen you in forever!" She reached for his helmet, planning to give him a kiss on the cheek but Ed stopped her by grabbed her wrist and pulling her back.

"Hey! What's the big idea?" Ayame whined.

"So you haven't heard from Granny or Winry, huh?" Ed whispered but Ayame heared him.

"Heard what? Did something happen to Al!" Ayame panicked. What if he had damaged his face and was ashamed of it? She wouldn't care.

"Sort of."


End file.
